Office location: 970 W 190th St #302, Torrance CA, 90502
10/30/2023
Chon
San Diego, CA
My solar project started in March 2022. I was told my project would be completed by Sep 2022. It is now almost November 2023, 19 months later, and I am still waiting for ESP to finish the project and fix basic mistakes. Here are the numerous issues I faced: - I was told I would need to upgrade my electrical panel, which pushed installation to August 2022. No big deal. However, I was told they would install the solar panels and upgrade the electrical panel on the same day, followed by a final inspection only 2 weeks later. Instead, they "connected" the solar panels to an empty electical panel box connected t...nothing. That did not stop ESP from telling me my project was complete and taking full payment before becoming unresponsive. - I finally learn weeks later that the panel needs to be installed by outside electricians. Why this wasn't understood or communicated before is never made clear to me. It takes 6 weeks to finally schedule this upgrade for December, which is 4 months after my already delayed installation. - On the day of the scheduled panel upgrade NO ONE SHOWS UP. I come to find out this was the fault of ESP canceling the job due to some permit issue, but this was never communicated to me. My project coordinator, Kasey, is again unresponsive. Any information I discover is communicated through the outside electricians hired by ESP instead. - After little communication, Kasey finally updates me and blames SDGE (which I discover is a recurring pattern for ESP). But I get no updates as to when the panel will be upgraded. Any updates she promises me are instead met with silence. Within a couple weeks, Kasey's phone is disconnected. No one from ESP reaches out to me about my project. I have to keep calling, and eventually discover I have a new project coordinator Esther. It is now late December. - Esther finally gets the project moving. Apparently we are still waiting on permits, which don't come through until Jan 2023. However, now I have to wait for the electric work to be rescheduled, which is now set for late February 2023. - The electricity panel is finally upgraded. But again, the panel is not connected to the solar panels. I am now told that a line transfer needs to happen before an inspection, which was at no point explained to me. As before, the electricians are providing me significantly more communication and explanation than ESP. - My inspection is scheduled for mid March. The inspection passes. I am told I am on the home stretch and that I just need to wait for the Permission To Operate, which takes a couple weeks. - Turns out "a couple weeks" means months. I keep waiting and being told by ESP that SDGE is to blame. However, ESP does little to investigate why there is a delay. By June, I have finally connected the right people from SDGE, ESP and the city inspectors, work that ESP should have been doing. It turns out that SDGE says they haven't recieved the inspection report, which the inspectors say they have sent multiple times. SDGE and the city are extremely responsive in contrast to ESP. At this point, I have lost faith in Esther and am now working with her manager Sam, who promises me some financial restitution and to resolve the issue. (I was originally offered a $20 gift card for the significant delays, which I found insulting). - Sam is no better. A few weeks go by and he also keeps telling me SDGE is still to blame. He also never delivers the promised reimbursement. Eventually, he becomes unresponsive and his number disconnects, again with no word or follow up from ESP. I again have to track down who at ESP is managing my project. I am eventually connected to Elena. - Turns out that ESP PUT THE WRONG ADDRESS ON THE APPLICATION! I discover this on my own through SDGE and the inspectors, with no help from ESP. It is now August. No wonder they could not find the inspection reports. SDGE says the entire application needs to be resubmitted. Elena is no more responsive than anyone else has been, but at least makes good on the promised reimbursement. - Eventually, I am connected to Adriana, who is the utilities coordinator. She resubmits the application and gives me instructions for fast tracking the application with SDGE. It is now mid September. - The photos are rejected by SDGE, because of a safety placard placement. Adriana tells me SDGE is has never rejected an application over the placard, but I have heard EDP blame SDGE for their mistakes too many times before. I instead suspect that ESP simply did not place the placard properly. ESP now has to send a tech to replace, which takes nearly 2 weeks. - Adriana tells me she would resend the photos once the panel has been moved, then PTO will come in 1-3 business days. Over a week goes by and I hear nothing. After reaching out yet again, she now tells me the photos the tech took are not good enough because the placard text cannot be read, so I have to take another photo. After close inspection, I determine that SDGE has a point, as the text is printed so poorly that it is barely readable up close let alone in a photo. Again, this seems like sloppy work from ESP. However, I am able to get a close enough photo with some slight photo editing to make the text more readable. - SDGE finally grants the permission to operate on Oct 26. My solar panels, unused on my roof for 14 months, are finally turned on! So I can finally be rid of ESP now? Were that I so fortunate. The solar panels are supposed to power two separate homes. But looking at the usage, the solar only applies to one. I call SDGE, and I am told that ESP should have filed a net metering aggregation application. They never did. So now the solar energy is not being aggregated correctly, complicating the billing and usage across the two homes. - Over the next 2 days, I call ESP and am told that it will be dealt with urgently. Instead, I receive no updates at all and am ignored. I am told I will receive a call back by EOD, I don't. I call back and am now told I'll receive a call tomorrow. So I have no idea if and when ESP will fix the issue, So 19 months later and I am at least receiving some of the benefit of solar, but my project is still incomplete. At literally every single step of the process ESP managed to screw up. They were sloppy, mismanaged, and unresponsive, and consistently blamed SDGE and outside contractors for their own failures. I had to be my own staunch advocate to get ANYONE at this company to take any action at all. Do not make the same mistake I did, look elsewhere for your solar project.
System size (kW): 7
Year installed: 2022
Energy Service Partners (ESP) reply
11/02/2023
Chon, we truly apologize for any miscommunications that led to this experience. Your project is more complex than a standard solar panel installation - setting proper expectations should have been paramount from the start, and when we encountered issues that led to the delays we should have been quick to address them with you. That being said, the request for the meter aggregation is not something that we were made aware of until this most recent conversation with you, and it is something that the utility needs to process, not us. We always strive for prompt professional service, and recognize that there are certainly areas we can improve on, but your statements that we are entirely to blame for the delays and misinformation you received are not accurate. Your project has been completed and all the necessary paperwork submitted to the utility, and we will be swift to respond to any other requests. We are more than willing to review the project for anything else we can do to make up for lost time while the ball was in our court.